Published: Less than 20 min ago
Finding out which antibiotics work against partially resistant bacteria is often both complicated and requires expensive equipment.
But now a research group at the department of chemical biology at Chalmers University of Technology has discovered a way to use cheap equipment to find out exactly which antibiotics a bacterium is resistant to, Vetenskapsradion reports.
The researchers have now succeeded in programming the gene scissors CRISPR-CAS9 to find resistance-linked genes in the bacteria. If it finds such a gene, the gene scissors make a small cut in the DNA molecule.
In a microscope, which is usually used to diagnose tuberculosis, it is then possible for the researchers to see if there is resistance by seeing if the so-called dna circle is cut or not, according to the radio.